Nothing beats manufacturer produced promotional videos like this one for the Ford commercial truck line in Great Britain for 1968. They show the trucks working hard and doing the kinds of truck like things you’d expect but to kick it up a notch, they also show the trucks being beaten beyond any hope of long term survival and that’s what kicks this video from good to great. Just look at the lead photo and anyone who has ever driven or ridden in a medium duty truck with a beam axle and parallel leaf springs knows that the “stuff” is hitting the fan inside the cab. Honestly we’re not sure how the guys driving these things got out of this production without a broken hands or fingers at least. The steering wheel must have been doing some truly unnatural things inside that cab and they had to have been bashing their heads off the roof with each massive shunt as well.
While that little section of tape was taken on a course with offset bumps we think the most truly insane thing they did in this one was to drive a fully loaded dump truck at what was probably full speed into a section of whoop-dee-doos that would challenge Ricky Johnson let alone a twin axle cab over truck! You can actually see the dirt falling out of the back of the truck as the thing leaps completely airborne multiple times over and over again. The fact that the axle did not get completely cleaned out from under the front of that truck is kind of amazing. It is awesome to watch.
They show everything from the tough little Transit (which has finally come across to American in an apparent sales success for Ford) all the way up to their 1000 series articulated trucks. They all get a pounding and it is pure entertainment. Lastly, watch right around the 4:15 mark. The dump truck has been sitting and idling as a bright yellow Ford tractor loads it up. When the guy drives off there is a cloud of soot thick enough to nearly block the entire frame and they left it in! Oh how times have changed!
